Elephant jibe lands Jeremy Clarkson in the dung!

Elephant jibe lands Jeremy Clarkson in the dung!

Jeremy Clarkson has been blasted for mocking people with facial growths

Jeremy Clarkson has been blasted for mocking people with facial growths

The Top Gear presenter branded the disfigurements “really ugly things” and joked that he couldn’t bear to look at people who have them.

And his comments have landed the 52-year-old in hot water with his bosses after 137 viewers complained.

Clarkson shocked some of the BBC show’s fans during a broadcast in which he compared a Prius van to the Elephant Man.

He said the vehicle was like someone you “couldn’t talk to at a party unless you were looking at someone else”.

Now Clarkson has been slammed for likening the van to tragic John Merrick, whose disfigurement made him a circus curiosity in Victorian London.

Mark Boylan, who has a cystic hygroma, which causes facial growths, said: “I was gutted the presenters felt the need to stoop to such a low level.”

And Clarkson’s bosses at the BBC Trust agreed, saying the comments were “on the wrong side of the line”.

They added: “The remarks strayed into an offensive stereotypical assumption.”

James Partridge, founder of the Changing Faces charity, said: “People with an unusual appearance and other disfigurements suffer bullying, ridicule and hate crime. It is vital they are not seen as fair game for low-level jibes.”

A Top Gear spokesman said programme makers had already apologised for the scripted comments, broadcast in February.

But Clarkson added fuel to the fire with a series of bizarre Twitter posts last night. One said: “Due to a blocked saliva gland, I have a growth on my face. As a result, I look a bit like a Toyota Prius camper van.”